Katie Ledecky swam the 13th-fastest time ever in the 800-meter freestyle, only she wasn’t racing the 800. She still had 700 meters to go.
The American swimming star challenged her own unmatchable world-record pace for the first two-thirds of the 1,500-meter freestyle final Tuesday at the swimming world championships in Singapore, cruising to another gold medal in her signature event.
Ledecky finished in 15:26.44, the fifth-best time in the event’s history.
15 years of 1500m freestyle DOMINANCE from Katie Ledecky.
📺: Peacock | #AQUASingapore25 pic.twitter.com/DwHnRtbtxn
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 29, 2025
The win delivered her 22nd world championship gold medal and extended a 15-year streak of perfection in the 1,500. She hasn’t lost a race at that distance since she was 13, and she’s won all six world title races in which she’s competed since 2013. She’s two for two at the Olympics as well — the 1,500 was added to the women’s program for the 2021 Tokyo Games.
It was closer than usual this time for Ledecky, who won her previous four world championship finals by over 10 seconds each. Italy’s Simona Quadarella turned in a sparkling 15:31.79 to win silver and break Ledecky’s hold on the top 24 times in the event’s history. Quadarella’s time is the 12th-best ever. Australia’s Lani Pallister took bronze in 15:41.18.
“Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I’ve had,” Ledecky said in an interview with Peacock. “Yeah, the 1,500 means a lot to me, and I wasn’t going to give that one up tonight.”
The 28-year-old Ledecky’s dominance in the 1,500 is staggering. She has reset the world record in the event six times, most recently in 2018 at a Pro Swim Series event in Indianapolis. Her 15:20.48 that day is over 18 seconds better than anyone else has ever posted.
And she’s still near that form seven years later. In a Pro Swim Series event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in April, Ledecky posted a 15:24.51 in the 1,500 — her second-best time ever in the event. On Tuesday, she jumped out well ahead of record pace early before slipping behind at 1,300 meters.
Her 800-meter split time of 8:09.85, with nearly half the race still to go, is faster than all but 12 swims of that distance — 11 of them from Ledecky.
The race was the second of three individual events for Ledecky this week in Singapore. She took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, won by history-seeking Canadian star Summer McIntosh on Sunday. Later this week, Ledecky and McIntosh will meet again in the 800-meter freestyle in one of the most anticipated races of the meet.
Ledecky now has 28 total medals at the world championships, second only to Michael Phelps’ 33. The only two 1,500-meter world titles she hasn’t won since 2013 were in 2019, when she withdrew before the final due to illness, and in 2024, when she skipped worlds to focus on Olympic preparation.
Also, on Tuesday, Australia’s Kaylee McKeown won the latest edition of her rivalry with American Regan Smith in the women’s 100-meter backstroke. McKeown won in 57.16 seconds, with Smith just behind in 57.35. American Katharine Berkoff took bronze in 58.15.
Germany’s Anna Elendt was a surprise winner from the outside lane in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke final. She held off American Kate Douglass, who came from fourth at the turn to take silver in 1:05.27. China’s Tang Qianting secured bronze in 1:05.64.
“I never expected going that time coming into the meet,” Douglass said on Peacock of her personal-best time in the event, “so I’m very happy with that.”
In the men’s 200-meter freestyle final, Romania’s David Popovici rallied with a strong last 50 meters to beat American Luke Hobson at the wall to take gold. Popovici swam the final leg in 26.4 seconds to pass Hobson and back up his gold medal in the event at the Paris Olympics. Japan’s Tatsuya Murasa took bronze in 1:44.54.
South Africa’s Pieter Coetze won gold in the men’s 100-meter backstroke in 51.85. Italy’s Thomas Ceccon took second in 51.90, with France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard in third in 51.92.
(Photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)